Kasicka, Kalymbetov stamp dominance in Prague

A little more than a month ahead of the World Championships, familiar names including title favourite Helena Kasicka stamped their dominance, emerging on the top of the standings at the Prague 2023 Para Dance Sport International Competition that concluded on Sunday (8 October 2023).

Slovakia’s three-time world champion Kasicka shone with three gold medals leading the medals for Slovakia. She emerged the winner in single freestyle woman class 1, single conventional woman class 1, combi Latin class 1+2 and combi freestyle class 1 – taking the combi honours with her partner Martin Šolc.

Top finishers 

Kasicka was equally matched by Kazakhstan’s Yermek Kalymbetov and Slovenia’s Amir Alibabic who were the top finishers among the men. 

Both Kalymbetov and Alibabic mesmerised the weekend audience with their amazing moves. The Kazakh brought cheers to the team with three gold in single freestyle men class S2, single conventional men class 2 and combi freestyle class 2 along with Kulshum Atalykova, while the Slovenian took the gold in single freestyle men class 1 and single conventional men class 1.

In duo events, Alibabic also took a silver pairing with Nastija Fijolic in duo latin class 1 which was won by Turkey’s Abdul Kadir Unal & Nezihe Kocak Unal. The Turkish pair also were victorious in duo freestyle class 1 event. 

Strong challenge

In single conventional woman class 2, Alibabic’s compatriot Lara Nedeljkovic overcame a strong challenge from Sofie Cox from Belgium to take the gold. 

However, Cox compensated winning the single freestyle women class 2 finals ahead of Italy’s Mariangela Correale.

In duo events, Kazakhstan’s Talgat Amanbekov & Nargiza Akhmetova produced gold medal winning performances in duo standard class 1&2 and duo freestyle class 2

For the hosts, Jan Kohout & Karolína Anna Dvorackova took the top honours in combi standard class 2 and showed the way for many other youngsters to join their ranks soon.

This was the third consecutive year the city hosted an international event, with a total of 54 athletes (35 women, 19 men) from 15 countries to be in action this weekend (7 and 8 October 2023).

The Prague 2023 also included power wheelchair events with Slovenia's Alibabic impressing the weekend crowd for the top place in single conventional power wheelchair and single freestyle powerchair events.

What’s next?

The Prague 2023 International Competition was the penultimate event of the season before the all-important Genoa 2023 Para Dance Sport World Championships, that are set to begin from November 24.

Complete results for Prague 2023 International Competition can be found here.